New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul speaks with the media during the first day of Giants voluntary minicamp on Tuesday, April 26, 2016. Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

It wasn’t Odell Beckham Jr. It wasn’t Sterling Shepard. It wasn’t even an offensive player.

No, the Giants player who drew the simple but direct approval from Ben McAdoo in his post-practice assessment of the opening OTA on Monday — “Nice catch,” the coach said — was one of the least likely to receive the compliment.

Practicing with what appeared to be his new custom-made glove for his mangled right hand, Pierre-Paul was able to leap up and cleanly catch a short pass that Eli Manning was trying to loft over his head to running back Shane Vereen. It wasn’t in full-speed drills, so there wasn’t a lot of zip on the pass. Still, for Pierre-Paul to be able to clamp the football cleanly between his hands is a remarkable feat. And it is something he likely would have been unable to do last year while wearing the club that wrapped around his hand.

The new glove, a blue and gray model with the Under Armour logo, was designed to fit what remains of Pierre-Paul’s right hand. There is no index finger — it looks as if that part of the glove was snipped off and stitched shut — and the middle finger is shortened. The equipment should allow Pierre-Paul to play with more dexterity this season than last year, his first after returning from the horrendous July 4 fireworks accident that led to an amputation and a series of surgeries.

Pierre-Paul won’t be asked to catch many passes this season. But the fact that he could do so in Monday’s practice could be a sign that he’ll have a lot more luck grabbing offensive players in 2016 than he did last season.